What is this game\u2026? Well, I\u2019m still trying to wrap my head around that as I\u2019m sitting here and trying to collect my thoughts, having just played Mama\u2019s Sleeping Angels with a couple of friends for two hours straight. This is a project its developer describes as a \u201cY2K dream-exploration game\u201d, though \u201cnightmare\u201d is probably a more accurate word to use here, considering some of the things I\u2019ve come across. It\u2019s also a game that feels like it shouldn\u2019t work, but somehow\u2026 it does. Kind of.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gtogg.com\/att\/Games\/Action\/Coop\/Mama_s_Sleeping_Angels\/Screenshots\/01.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nGummy bears and nightmares<\/h3>\n
Mama\u2019s Sleeping Angels is supposedly what you get when you combine Lethal Company with someone\u2019s drug-induced hallucinations and put the whole thing into a cursed PlayStation 1 console that runs on gummy bears and nightmares. Also, I say \u201csupposedly\u201d because I haven\u2019t personally played Lethal Company, but based on what I know about its formula, there are indeed *some* similarities: you and your friends venture into strange, dangerous locations to scavenge for items (with each level being a separate run), and then shenanigans happen.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gtogg.com\/att\/Games\/Action\/Coop\/Mama_s_Sleeping_Angels\/Screenshots\/06.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSpeaking of shenanigans: in addition to its fever dream of an art style, the game\u2019s sheer unpredictability is undoubtedly one of its strongest assets. Much like in an actual dream, pretty much anything goes. At times, cars may randomly come alive to chase you around, or grotesque monstrosities resembling otherworldly, indescribable shapes will come lumbering towards you. At other times, your friends will start uncontrollably peeing themselves before accidentally firing off a nuke. And this can all happen within the same run. It\u2019s like the perfect mixture of surrealist cosmic horror, dreamlike absurdism and eccentric humor \u2013 to call it absolutely unhinged would be an understatement, which is probably why it\u2019s best experienced with friends. That\u2019s not to say a solo run will not throw an untold amount of pure degeneracy at you, but when you have two or three other people on voice chat shouting at you about the latest instance of WTF-ery they just experienced, well\u2026 it really is something else.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gtogg.com\/att\/Games\/Action\/Coop\/Mama_s_Sleeping_Angels\/Screenshots\/09.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHungry hungry Mama<\/h3>\n
The actual game, though? It\u2019s very simple, and not particularly sophisticated, at least in my experience. There are no intricate mechanics to worry about, which is a double-edged sword, making the game both easily accessible, but also potentially repetitive: you just explore the map, pick up items, bring them back to your \u201cbase\u201d, and once you have enough, you can use them to feed Mama, the strange, nightmarish, almost Lovecraftian \u201cthing\u201d that demands to be satiated. And then the mission ends, and you do it again and again to unlock even more maps.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gtogg.com\/att\/Games\/Action\/Coop\/Mama_s_Sleeping_Angels\/Screenshots\/02.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMama\u2019s Sleeping Angels is largely carried by its friendslop fun factor and the absolutely insane art style, but without those, there\u2019s sadly not much left \u2013 and even with procedural generation, I still felt like certain levels were a bit too samey. However, if you\u2019ve got friends to slop with, and the aesthetics pull you in, you\u2019ll likely get a few hours of entertainment out of it before the novelty starts wearing off.<\/p>\n